Mixing apparatus



Dec. 10, 1929. R. HEAD MIXING APPARATUS Filed May 9, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' Dec. 10, 1929.

v R. HEAD MIXING APPARATUS Filed May 9, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

i 50 said worm or screw and the sleeve,

Patented Dec. 10, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RONALD HEAD, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO BAKER PERKINS COMPANY, INC., OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK MIXING APPARATUS Application filed May 9, 1925,- Serial No. 29,039, and in Great Britain May 29, 1924.

This invention relates to mixing apparatus for dry, liquid, or semi-liquid substances and the object is to provide an apparatus which will produce an eflicient circulation of the substance under treatment without however permitting a swirling motion of said substance in the pan or other vessel in which the mixing operation is taking place.

The invention comprises, 1n con unction with a receptacle containing an axially disposed helical mixing member, a non-rotatable sleeve or the like surrounding said mixing member and formingan open ended chamber or'tunnel in which the mixing member rotates, deflecting means being also provided adjacent an end of said chamber the action of the parts being such that the substance under treatment is caused to circulate endwise through said chamber in one direction and 1s 2o reversed outside said chamber whereby swirling motion is reduced to a minimum. W

The invention also comprises other features of construction, arrangement and combinations of parts all as set forth in appended claims and hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation with parts in section; Fig. 2 is a front elevation and Fig. 3 a plan view of Fig. 1.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises a receptacle or pan a suitabl of hemispherical shape as shown or of cylindrical or conical form and suitably open at the top if required. The said receptacle is jacketed at a for reception of a tempering medium suchas steam which is admitted and exhausted through hollow trunnions a a about which the receptacle may also be tilted as by means of a lever a. When not tilted the receptacle isheld in operative position by a suitable catch a The receptacle a normally contains an axially disposed and rotatable, continuous or broken bladed worm, screw, or helical 45 mixing member I) which is closely surrounded by a non-rotatable but axially adjust-able sleeve or the like a which forms an open ended chamber or tunnel in which the worm or screw revolves, there being provided above a battle or deflecting member cl the periphery or outer part of which is downwardly directed as at (F. The sleeve 0 is of such size as to leave a space an belowv between its .lower edge and the receptacle base and another space 3 above between its upper edge and the bafiie.

The material to be mixed is placed in the receptacle and is carried by the worm 6 up through the tunnel formed by the sleeve 0 and out at the'top, being then directed by the 0 battle cl downwardly outside the tunnel back to the lower end thereof and again up through same, thus being maintained in continuous circulation without to any extent causing a swirling motion of the substance round the 65. receptacle. A

The sleeve 0 is mounted to be adjustable vertically in relation to the worm Z) and bafile cl, this being suitably effected by carrying said sleeve on arms 0 adjustably connected by bolts and nuts 0 to a bracket 6. By this means the spaces a: and y at the top and bottom of the sleeve may bevaried according to the kind of substance under treatment. The battle (Z is mounted on a vertical shaft 12 carrying the worm b and this mounting is shown as of an adjustable character by threading the baffle cl j on a screwed portion of the shaft I) and fixing in position by a set-screw b so that the position of the baflle in relation to the sleeve and so worm may be altered to provide in all cases ample space for the circulation of the substance whatever the position of adjustment of the sleeve.

Alternatively to the above the action of the worm may take place in the reverse d1- rection, that 1s to say, the circulation of the substance may be downward in the tunnel and upward outside same.

' Thesha-ft 79 carrying the worm isshown as having one of its shaft by means of a spline "carries step pulleys k andis driven by, a belt h from other step pulleys k by driving Shaft 72. or any other appropriate driving mechanism may be used. On the shaft are further loosely mounted two bevel-wheels M which engage a bevel-wheel i on a screw between the bevels i 71 is slidably splined.

shaft i connected to the lower bracket e and a dog clutch '5 adapted to co-operate with dogs on the side of one or other of said bevels. The dog clutch is slid into engagement with one or other of the bevels by means of a bell-crank connected to an operating rod.

7' provided with stop abutments 7"; a

By the construction described the shaft 6 "can be driven from the shaft f. when the clutch elements f and g are engaged or stopped when disengaged and by operating the rod j the screw shaft i may be drivenv in one or other direction through therespective pairs of bevels 2' i or 41 to raise or lower the bracket and consequently the shaft .12 with the worm b and baflle d. When these parts have been raised sufficiently to clear the receptacle a as at. the end of a mixing operation, the receptacle maybe tilted to discharge the contents and is free for cleaning or other purposes.

With the above mechanism there may also be used rotatable scraping means for cleaning the interior of the receptacle during the mixing operation. These means may comprise one or more arms is mounted on the shaft b and in substantially close contact with the interior wall or base of the re ceptacle. The arms I: may however be driven at a variable speed in relation theretoto the worm if desired.- When driven as illustrated in unison with the worm ,which may revolve at a high speed, (although means may be provided for varying this speed as by means of the step pulleys mentioned) and in order to further minimize any tendency to produce a swirling motion of the substance, there may be provided inthe receptacle outside the worm and its enclosing sleeve fixed bafile plates Z two of which are shown mounted on the exterior of 'the sleeve In the above description it has been assumed that theappa-ratus is of the vertical type; that is, the worm revolves about a vertical axis, but the invention is equally applicable to forms in which the worm rotates about a horizontal or inclined axis, the function being the same in all cases and requiring but slight modifications in the arrangement of theparts.

The worm or screw may if desired be caused to riseand fall whilst revolving if the machine is of the vertical type or to move endwise if working horizontally or on an inclined axis;

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is 1. In a mixing apparatus, a mixing chamher, an open ended sleevepositioned axially of the mixing chamber, means for mounting said sleeve whereby it may be adjusted relatively to the bottom of said receptacle, a rotatable helical mixing member mountedwithin said sleeve, a shaft for driving said helical mixing member, and a deflector carried by said shaft and adjustable therealong with respect to one end of the sleeve to control the discharge of material from the adjacent end of the sleeve.

2. In a mixing apparatus, a mixing receptacle, an axially disposed open ended sleeve mounted in said mixing receptacle, a helical mixing member mounted insaid sleeve and serving to cause a circulation of material acted upon therethrough, a deflector adjacent one end of said sleeve, means for adjusting the sleeve relatively to the bottom of the mixing receptacle to control the rate of flow to the lower end of the sleeve and means for adjusting the deflector relative to the upper end of the sleeve to control the rate of discharge of material from the upper end thereof.

a 3. In a mixing apparatus, a receptacle, an open ended sleeve mounted in said receptacle, a rotatable helical mixing element mounted within said sleeve, means for rotating said I mixing-element, andv means for moving said mixing element longitudinally of said sleeve during its rotation therein.

In witness whereof I have signed thisspeci- RONALD HEAD.

'fication.

a, but suflicient being provided to prevent probably not be needed as the speed of the.

scraper arms can be reduced to avoid any swirling motlon. 

